The competition has existed in its current form since It was preceded by the Under Challenge Cup which ran from to A true Under championship was then formed, starting in The age limit was reduced to 21 for the championship and it has remained so since.

To be eligible for the campaign ending in , players need to be born in or after Many can be actually 23 years old by the time the finals tournament takes place; however, when the qualification process began all players would have been 21 or under.

Under matches are typically played on the day before senior internationals and where possible, the same qualifying groups and fixtures were played out.

This was not true for the shortened Championship. This tournament serves as qualifier for the Summer Olympics. It has been considered a stepping stone toward the senior team.

Germany are the reigning champions, defeating Spain 1—0 in the final. The finals of the competition were hosted by Poland.

Up to and including the competition , all entrants were divided into eight qualification groups, the eight winners of which formed the quarter-finals lineup.

The remaining fixtures were played out on a two-legged, home and away basis to determine the eventual winner. For the competition , one of the semi-finalists, France, was chosen as a host for the single-legged semi-finals, 3rd place playoff and final.

Similarly, Spain was chosen to host the last four matches in For , nine qualification groups were used, as participation had reached 46, nearly double the 24 entrants in The top seven group winners qualified automatically for the finals, whilst the eighth- and ninth-best qualifiers, Greece and England , played-off for the final spot.

The remaining matches, from the quarter-finals onward, were held in Romania , one of the eight qualifiers. The competition also had nine groups, but the nine winners and seven runners-up went into a two-legged playoff to decide the eight qualifiers.

From those, Slovakia was chosen as host. For the first time, the familiar finals group stage was employed, with the two winners contesting a final, and two runners-up contesting the 3rd-place playoff.

The structure in was identical, except for the introduction of a semi-finals round after the finals group stage. Switzerland hosted the finals.

In , ten qualification groups were used, with the group winners and six best runners-up going into the playoff.

Germany was host that year. For , the top two teams of eight large qualification groups provided the 16 teams for the playoffs, held in November Portugal hosted the finals.